About

Lawfully Wedded is an unofficial, non-profit fan zine meant to explore Ace Attorney characters and ships in all phases of the wedding process, from engagement to planning to ceremony to honeymoon!This will be a physical and digital SFW fanzine, with a digital NSFW “Wedding Night” add-on. Digital copies of the zine and any digital merch will be guaranteed to contributors. Should the zine raise enough money, contributors will be able to receive a copy of the physical zine and merch; if it does not, contributors will have the opportunity to purchase these items at production cost. Money raised after printing, production, and shipping costs, as well as expenses of providing zine bundles to contributors, will be donated to Marriage for All Japan, a charity spearheading marriage equality in Japan through legal efforts.This zine does not focus on any one specific ship, and in fact, a variety of ships are encouraged. Contributors pitched for at least two different ships in order to keep this standard and prevent the zine from focusing on only one or two popular relationships. The characters within these ships are featured in the Ace Attorney and DGS/TGAA games.Current status: LEFTOVERS OPEN 7/29!

Wedding Planners

Meet the Mods

Vyn ⚭ she/her
Head Mod ⚭ Writing Contributor

The idea for this zine came to Vyn in the form of a lightning strike of a pun and the rest is history. She is a hopeless romantic who loves love, so this theme is her absolute daydream and she is so excited to make it happen! As a first-time mod, she is so grateful for her talented co-mods and friends for agreeing to come on this journey with her; she can’t wait to see what everyone brings to the party!

• Twitter
• Tumblr
• AO3

Madi Wander ⚭ she/her
Graphics & Layout Mod ⚭ Writing Contributor

Madi is a self-described layabout Australian who loves writing overly dense prose and melodramatic slice-of-life fics, and is also a self-taught graphic designer & gamedev. She has been known to go very apeshit at weddings (mainly because dancing turns her last remaining brain cells into blissfully goopy sludge) and is SO excited to get to see so many works celebrating our blorbos’ special days ♡⌒(≧▽° )

• Website
• Twitter
• Tumblr
• AO3

KrisseyCrystal ⚭ fae/faer & she/her
SocMed Mod ⚭ Writing Contributor

That one person who has been writing too long about too much. (Why does fae have over 50 fics on AO3?) Krissey loves the romance and aesthetic of weddings and has scrolled through Pinterest one too many times, having gone through a phase creating wedding boards for favorite ships that will never see the light of day. Honestly, Krissey is SO excited to be here and talk about dresses, venues, and cake!

• Twitter
• Tumblr
• AO3

Elliot Sonder ⚭ they/them
Writing Mod ⚭ Writing Contributor

Elliot is a mysterious writer from the east coast of Canada! They've been dubbed the 'CEO of FranMaya' by multiple friends and have thought way too long about their potential wedding. They're so excited to help out and support this zine to make it the best it can be!

• Twitter
• Tumblr
• AO3

Ronnie ⚭ they/them
Art Mod ⚭ Page Art Contributor

A sucker for sappiness, Ronnie's thrilled to be part of such a sweet zine! With experience modding and contributing to a number of zines, they're committed to giving it their all when it comes to celebrating some lawyer matrimony.

• Twitter
• Tumblr
• Youtube
• Website

Elle ⚭ any/all
Finance, Production, and Shipping Mod ⚭ Writing Pinch Hitter

Elle's experience with actual weddings can be summed up as, "There was line dancing, so I left." That hasn't stopped them from writing about lawyers and their associates getting married, because weddings are perfect settings for interpersonal shenanigans and fluffy stuff, and those are the things Elle lives for. She's thrilled at the concept of spending the next several months married to this zine's finance and shipping spreadsheets.

• Twitter
• Tumblr
• AO3

APPLICATION INFORMATION

General
For the zine, we are seeking approximately 30 artists, 7-8 writers, and 5 merch artists for the SFW section, and 12 artists and 4 writers for the NSFW section, not counting guests and mod submissions to the zine. These are not exact numbers and are subject to change. Applications will be evaluated on a blind basis. Your name and social media handles will not be linked to your application until after review; this is to give every applicant an equal footing and allow us to evaluate their skills alone.If you are hosting your application materials on a sharing site like Google Drive, please ensure that all of them are unlocked and viewable to the mods. If we are unable to access your materials, we will not have time to get into contact with you and inform you, and will regrettably have to move on without looking into your application. If you would like to provide a link to a portfolio of other pieces that you feel depict your skills well in addition to the samples chosen, you may feel free to do so, and there is a space in each application, but there is no guarantee that mods will have time to review it in depth, so please make sure that the three directly-linked works are your absolute best.Pinch hitter positions for this zine will be available. By marking yourself as willing to be a pinch hitter, you are accepting a potentially tighter schedule with less turnaround before final deadlines.Page Artists
Page artist applicants will be required to upload three samples that they feel represent their best work and abilities as an artist. These works will be evaluated on the basis of composition, solid use of color, shape language, and anatomy. Because of this, we strongly recommend including at least one piece with a background. Additionally, we recommend having examples of Ace Attorney characters present in at least one of these pieces, though it is not required. Please use files in high resolution. If you are applying for a NSFW position, you must include at least one example of NSFW work among your three samples.Merch artists
Merch artist applicants will be required to link to three samples that they feel best shows off their skills as a merch designer. These works will be evaluated on the basis of composition, solid use of color, shape language, and anatomy. Please include diverse examples of merch types, and indicate in the file name what the design was originally used for (i.e., 'AA Enamel Pin,' 'Narumitsu Acrylic Charm Design,' etc.). If you have pictures of how the merch turned out when produced, that can be included as well, but what is required is the original files of the merch designs. A variety of styles is preferred so that we can have a good range of merch available!Writers
Writers will be required to link to three works that they feel best represent their skills as an author. These works will be evaluated on the basis of characterization, prose, flow, theme and narrative. These works should not exceed 2,000 words in length. At least one sample must be a complete story with a beginning, middle, and end, although the others may be excerpts; please indicate if a sample is an excerpt or complete. At least one of your samples must feature characters from Ace Attorney. Considering that this is a ship-focused zine, it is preferred if at least one sample contains romantic content, but it is not strictly required. We are also looking for ship diversity, so samples with less-popular ships (i.e. not Narumitsu, Klapollo, Asoryuu, or Franmaya) are encouraged but not necessary. If you are applying for a NSFW position, you must include at least one example of NSFW work among your three samples.

APPLY NOW!

• Page Artist
• Merch Artist
• Writer

FAQ

What is a zine?
In broad terms, a zine is a fan-made magazine featuring works made by contributors. Zines have a long and rich history, both in fandom (going back to things like science fiction and Star Trek zines) and outside of it (like punk and riot grrrl zines). A zine can be digital or physical, professionally printed or handmade; there is no one way to make a zine. That being said, in online fandom spaces in today’s world, a zine often, and in this case, refers to a fan-made booklet full of both art and writing offerings from contributors, centered around a specific topic. The zine may be offered along with merchandise bundles as well. So, in this specific zine’s circumstances, we are focusing around imagined wedding-related content featuring characters from the Ace Attorney series.When you say wedding, what do you mean?
Wedding is being used as a broad term to refer to all stages of the marriage process, from engagement to honeymoon! Since it’s a specific topic, we want to see all facets explored. Additionally, this zine is in no way restricted to traditional Western weddings. We encourage the exploration and showcasing of wedding ceremonies from all around the world!Do ships featured have to be canon?
No, ships do not need to be canon to the Ace Attorney series in order to be part of the zine, although if you’d like to explore, say, Ron and Desiree Delite’s wedding, you’re more than welcome to do so! We are encouraging a variety of ships, from rarepairs to more popular ones in fandom.How will you encourage ship diversity in the zine?
Essentially, within their pitches, all contributors will be required to submit at least one that features a ship not in the top five on AO3, i.e., a ship other than Narumitsu/Wrightworth, Klapollo, or Franmaya. Should we expand to include DGS/TGAA based on the interest check results, this will also include Asoryuu.Will the zine include spoilers? Spoilers from all Ace Attorney games featured will be allowed; this includes all of the mainline games and both Investigations games, including the unofficial fan translation of Gyaktuen Kenji 2. If there is enough interest to include the DGS/TGAA games based on our interest check, there will also be spoilers allowed for both of those games.Are OCs allowed?
While you are more than welcome to create OCs (humorous names encouraged) to fill background roles in your contribution (such as an officiant or a flight attendant), main featured characters in works must be canon Ace Attorney characters.Can we use a wedding as a backdrop to explore non-romantic relationships?
You certainly can! For example, if you’d like to write about Maya serving as Phoenix’s best woman, or draw some art of Klavier doing a surprise performance at Ema’s wedding, you are more than welcome to do so.Are Alternate Universes (AUs) allowed?
Alternate scenarios within the Ace Attorney universe are allowed, subject to mod approval; for example, if you wanted to draw art of a Miego wedding in a scenario where Mia did not die in Turnabout Sisters, that would be fine. However, given the overall theme of the zine, entire/complete AUs, like a fairytale AU, would not be allowed. Contact mods with any questions!What is the pitch process like?
Applicants will have the opportunity to submit pitch ideas during the application process if they so choose, but they will not be binding. Accepted contributors will submit at least two pitches for their creation type, with one of them featuring a less-popular ship. Collaborators must submit the same pitch and will have the option to indicate that it will be a collaboration on their pitch form. The mods will then choose from submitted pitches, with as much effort as possible to honor contributors’ first choices, ensuring a variety of content for the zine’s final pieces.Will the zine cost money to own?
Yes, this zine will cost money to customers. It is a non-profit zine, though, and after breaking even and providing all contributors with copies, all proceeds will go to a charity chosen by the mods.Can I apply for multiple roles as a contributor?
Yes, you can apply for multiple roles. However, there is only some overlap allowed. You may be chosen, depending on interest, as a merch artist and a writer, or a merch artist and a page artist, but you may not be both a writer and a page artist.I have a question that wasn’t answered here.
You can feel free to send us an ask on Tumblr or a question on Retrospring!